Well this is certainly a fairly unique
storyline: Having foolishly stepped into
a virtual reality dooberie called 'Dreamscape'
it goes wrong, creates a Strogg filled nightmare
and proceeds to set about killing you. Well
you have to admit it makes a pleasant change
from shutting down (not very) secret Strogg
facilities. Another thing the plot does
justify well is the constantly teleporting
in monsters. When this first happened I
thought it would get annoying pretty quickly,
but it actually adds to the tension no end.
After a while you really begin to dread
hearing the noise of something arriving
and start fumbling for a weapon while searching
for something to hide behind. It's good
stuff. It also introduces a new threat to
the level in the fact that you can get telefragged
by something arriving fairly often if you're
unlucky (just save regularly and it's fine).
Upon loading it, the first thing that strikes
you about the level is the sheer number
of crates it contains. Now if a levels'
storyline revolves around it being a warehouse
then crates are fair enough and perhaps
even a necessity. But if the storyline revolves
around it being a virtual reality simulator
where absolutely anything, real or imagined,
can be created, why stick with crates? The
author could have gone for floating space
dogs with beanie hats, or giant macaroons,
or Elvis impersonating Molemen, or, or....
Hmm, perhaps crates were a good idea after
all.
Cratey goodness aside, this level does
look pretty damn good. The combination of
some reasonably complex design work with
some fantastic lighting works well. What
I particularly liked was the way the author
has used contrasting colours in the lighting,
but has done it subtly enough that you just
get the overall impression instead of going
"Aaiiee! Green, orange and purple together?
My eyes!" The fact that some of the
lighting has no visible source is a minor
quibble and so I'm not even going to mention
it. Apart from then I mean. Nevermind.
There's something like 150 monsters spread
out over the course of the two levels (the
second of which is pretty much a boss fight),
and most of them seem to have been modified
in some way. These modifications range from
the slightly surprising (the first time
a Brain grabs you with its' extra long tentacles)
to the frankly terrifying (the new Gladiators
with their one hit one kill, no matter how
much health you have, weapon). So with this
many bad guys moving around and you trying
to remember how they've been tweaked, there's
certainly enough combat to satisfy anybody
(unless your name is 'Horatio Neverbloodysatisfiednomatterhowmanymonstersthereare'
I suppose. But that's just plain silly,
I mean who calls their kid Horatio?). The
only slight let down in the combat stakes
is the fact that the last fight against
the rabbit headed boss is more of a trial
of patience rather than an exciting battle
to the death. Y'see because there isn't
much in the way of health in his area you
really can't afford to be hit by his BFG.
As a result the fight rapidly boils down
to nipping out from behind a pillar, pinging
him (it?) with the Railgun and then hiding
again. Repeat until bored. But as I said,
other than that the combat is all good.
|
Weapons wise things are a little....
odd. Not bad, just odd. It's not so much
the fact that you pick up almost all the
weapons (bar the BFG and Chaingun and that
might just be because I couldn't find them),
it's the amount of ammo you find. Like most
people, when I'm playing a level I watch
my ammo counts and avoid using any weapons
that drop too low. However while playing
this level I watched my ammo counts and
avoided using any weapon that wasn't on
100% maximum ammo at the time. There's ammo
absolutely everywhere. No really, I mean
everywhere. Some of the trickiest bits were
trying to avoid picking up the big box of
railgun slugs in the middle of a fight because
it would be a waste! Sheesh!
As well as slightly excessive ammunition,
the other interesting thing about the weapons
is the inclusion of two of the guns from
one of the Quake 2 addons (I forget which
one exactly, possibly the good one. Can't
remember). Anyway, although you're laden
down with such a ridiculous amount of firepower
the new guns are completely unnecessary,
it still makes a nice change to have them.
All in all Machine Reborn is good stuff.
It packs enough combat and surprises into
the pair of bsps to keep you going for quite
a while, looks good and contains plenty
of new stuff to poke. As a result I definitely
recommend this to all you Q2 fans out there
looking for some hot action (or anyone looking
for a level with plenty of combat. Ho ho!).
The other thing that strikes me is that,
although I haven't tested it, this seems
like it would indeed make a top co-op level.
Especially as you'd get to point and laugh
when your friend gets telefragged by a new
Tank arriving...
|